February 29, 2008

Microsoft Perfidy and Vista Capable Debacle

As much as I hate to say it, I'm glad that Microsoft is starting to catch some industry flak over the whole "Vista Capable" debacle.

I posted about it a while back - using some strong language. Mostly because I figured that the whole way that customers had been abused was just some side-effect of a marketing campaign run rampant. That, and the name of the site IS AngryPets after all - so I do have to talk trash and act all bothered every once in a while, right?

But as details have been forthcoming about this whole 'debacle', it's sad to see that we're not just talking about a marketing campaign that got out of control - where a few people got burned. What we're actually looking at is something that really, seriously, looks like collusion. Or, even if there isn't a criminal element involved, it's painfully obvious that Microsoft made the decision to sell their customers down the road.

Which just makes me sad.

The Seattle Post Intelligencer documented some of the emails exposed as part of the (now) class-action lawsuit being leveled against Microsoft. Some of the zingers:

One message points to chip maker Intel Corp., a key Microsoft partner, to explain the decision to lower the requirements a piece of hardware needed to qualify for the "Windows Vista Capable" designation.

"In the end, we lowered the requirement to help Intel make their quarterly earnings so they could continue to sell motherboards with the 915 graphics embedded," Microsoft executive John Kalkman wrote in the message, referring to a class of Intel graphics technology that doesn't work with Windows Vista's most-advanced graphics technology, known as Aero Glass.

In another message, Microsoft executive Mike Nash wrote that he "personally got burned by the Intel 915 chipset issue."

"I know that I chose my laptop (a SONY TX770P) because it had the Vista logo and was pretty disappointed that it not only wouldn't run Glass, but more importantly wouldn't run Movie Maker," Nash wrote. "I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine."